Web Sites
Technology
Planning: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly
This article, based on both academic research and practical experience, identifies
common sins and challenges found in technology planning, and offers practical
solutions.
The
Technology Coordinator’s Home Page
This site includes links to discussion forums, software, Internet connectivity
information, distance learning, acceptable use policies, grant resources, and
more. Technology staffers: make the most of computer use in your district!
U.S.
Department of Education: e-Learning
In the fall of 1999, the U.S. Department of Education undertook a strategic
review and revision of the national educational technology plan. Read the outcome
of this strategic review, including five new national goals for technology in
education.
17 Commandments
of a Technology Coordinator
Technology Coordinators can play so many roles that the importance of the job
tends to get lost in the shuffle. Here you will find 17 reminders to help keep
things in perspective.
An
Educator's Guide to Evaluating the Use of Technology in Schools and Classrooms
This site provides a handbook, complete with forms and sample surveys, for the
evaluation of your program.
Assessing
Current Technology Use in the Classroom
This article shows how the LoTi questionnaire can provide school systems with
a data-driven approach to IT decision making and the subsequent effect of the
approach on learners.
CEO
Forum
CEO Forum site contains three annual reports (a fourth is due soon) on education
technology. In addition, you can find a free assessment tool, the StaR chart.
Converge
Magazine
Converge offers workable solutions regarding education and technology. Click
on Viewpoints for a Q & A with educational leaders who share their viewpoints
and insights on technology.
CUE
(Computer Using Educator) Newsletter
The purposes of CUE is to promote the development and growth in the use of computer
and other technologies in education and to promote the professional growth of
educators, and develop and provide information, materials, and software.
Ed
Technology: Evaluation and Assessment
The U.S. Department of Education offers plenty of resources for evaluating the
use of technology in schools and classrooms. You'll find assessment tools, spotlight
schools, white papers, expert panels, evaluation projects, and more.
Education
Leaders Toolkit
This toolkit is a collection of tips and pointers, articles, case studies, and
other resources for education leaders addressing issues around technology and
education.
Learning and Leading
with Technology: May 1999
Of particular interest is Christopher Moersch's article "Assessing Current Technology
Use in the Classroom." His Levels of Technology Implementation (or LoTi) framework
is featured in this issue of "Learning and Leading with Technology."
Staff
Use of Technology 1998-99 Self-Evaluation Rubrics
Here's a site from Bellingham Public Schools that presents a rubric for self
evaluation regarding technology expertise.
Tech
Builder
Tech Builder is a comprehensive online tool designed to help schools and districts
assess how effectively they are using technology and develop long range plans.
It is available for use at no charge.
Tech Tamers: Assessing
Technology Programs
Tech Tamers offers a hotlist of Web sites for helping you assess technology
use in your school or classroom.
Texas
Center for Educational Technology: Research Instruments
The Research Instruments page contains links to an extensive annotated collection
of surveys that are freely available.
The
Snorkel
Davey Jones Locker is where techies and coordinators register in a database
to share their expertise. Then the visitor can enter in a query and a list of
names appears with email addresses.
California
Instructional Technology Clearinghouse
Explore this educator's guide to high-quality instructional technology resources
that support California's curriculum frameworks and standards. Search its database
of more than 3700 recommended resources.
Download.com
CNET offers one-stop shopping for downloading the latest software. The site
supports Windows, Mac, or Linnux operating systems as well as handheld devices.
Software titles are easy to find: use the search tool or browse the aptly-named
directories.
Review
Zone
The Review Zone offers an excellent collection of reviews of educational software,
including CD-ROMs and books.
School House Review
The School House Review offers a good collection of software reviews on popular
educational titles.
Strouds
Consummate Winsock Apps List
You'll agree with its tagline: the original Internet software resource. Here
you'll find one of the most substantial software directories on the Web.
SuperKids
Educational Software Review
SuperKids reviews and rates educational software based on carefully developed
criteria. The reviews are written by teams that include educators, parents,
and children. SuperKids also provides practical and fun tools for online and
offline use and news about important educational issues.
Tucows
Tucows tends to emphasize fun titles, but it is a popular site for downloads
of software, music, themes, and games.
Educational
Software Institute
Educational Software Institute offers software for a variety of topics.
Learningware
Reviews
Learningware specializes in the evaluation of education software. Teachers and
parents will both benefit from exploring this site.
Technology
and Learning: Software Reviews
Technology and Learning allows you to search software reviews by content area,
grade level, and format
California
Technology Assistance Project
Click on teachers for instructional resources, grant opportunities, staff development,
and technical support.
CEO
Forum Reports
From this page, you can access pdf files of the Year 2 Report on professional
development, the Year 2 STaR chart, and Interactive STaR Chart.
Computer
Strategies
This company provides an interactive database that generates individual learning
plans for teachers and develops appropriate learning opportunities and assessment
techniques.
CUE
(Computer Using Educator) Newsletter
The purposes of CUE is to promote the development and growth in the use of computer
and other technologies in education and to promote the professional growth of
educators, and develop and provide information, materials, and software.
Education
Leaders Toolkit
This toolkit is a collection of tips and pointers, articles, case studies, and
other resources for education leaders addressing issues around technology and
education.
The Power of the Internet
for Learning
This report, a result of the work from the bipartisan, Congressional Web-based
Education Commission, identifies key barriers that are preventing the Internet
from realizing its full potential for enhancing learning.
The
Snorkel
Davey Jones Locker is where techies and coordinators register in a database
to share their expertise. Then the visitor can enter in a query and a list of
names appears with email addresses.
A Planning
Guide for Staff Development
This site provides extensive information about how schools can implement professional
development. Explore the benefits of having existing staff become technology
experts.
Classroom
Connect
Classroom Connect's Web site links to Connected Teacher online community as
well as companion Web sites for various print products.
Effective Programs
for Training Teachers on the Use of Technology
This article from the Computer Learning Foundation outlines many scenarios of
effective staff development programs.
Elements of High Quality
Professional Development
This site can be used as a guideline when your school is considering implementing
a professional development program.
International
Society for Technology in Education
ISTE's mission is to help teachers and administrators share effective methods
for enhancing student learning through the use of new classroom technologies.
This is a great resource for workshops, articles, books, and magazines.
Milken
Exchange: Information Technology Underused in Teacher Education
This article emphasizes the importance of technology savvy educators in our
schools.
NETS
for Students: Profiles for Technology Literate Students
To live, learn, and work successfully in an increasingly complex and information-rich
society, students must use technology effectively. Within a sound educational
setting, technology can enable students. This site explores these tools.
Professional
Development Toolkit: Learning from the Best
This Professional Development Toolkit walks administrators through the process
of designing, implementing, evaluating, and improving professional development.
The toolkit is based on the National Awards Program for Model Professional Development.
Snapshot: Professional
Development
This site is brief, but delivers a good amount of information pertaining to
staff development.
The
North Central Regional Technology in Education Consortium Professional Development
This site provides many resources for learning with technology in the classroom.
Santa
Cruz City Schools Education Technology Liaison Program
The Santa Cruz City Schools offers this job description for a site-based technology
leader position. Note: This page opens as an Adobe Acrobat Reader pdf file.
Santa Cruz City Schools:
Education Technology
This is an excellent model of using technology leaders at each site in your
school district.
Apple's
Info Alley
Maintained by Apple Computer, this is the definitive site to get all the latest
Apple updates and bug fixes. They also maintain a mailing list with the various
Apple updates and topics.
Computer
Information Center (CIC)
The Computer Information Center (CompInfo) is a key reference site for IT/IS
users and buyers, with links to hardware and software companies, industry organizations
and user groups and technology information.
Johnny's Computer
Doesn't Boot
This is an article in Forbes Magazine that references the many issues relating
to technical support at the school site.
Low
End Mac
The K-12 world is often faced with outdated equipment and the need to keep that
equipment running with the best performance possible. Low End Mac is dedicated
to keeping older Macs and compatibles productive.
No
Wonder
This site claims you can email them any problem and within 24 hours you will
get a response to your query. It also has a great bulletin board/newsgroup section
for tech support related discussions.
Snapshot: Technical and
Instructional Support for Teachers
Here you will find a very useful graph depicting the amount of technical support
that is available to the teachers surveyed for this report.
The
PC Mechanic
Here's a great resource for PC-related issues and step-by-step instructions
for building a PC from the ground up. A very complete site with a search engine
to direct your query to your specific area of interest.
VersionTracker
Find out what is new in the software world. Get the latest free updates/bug
fixes for your software with a single click of the mouse. They have a commercial
offering of this site but the free Web site seems to be quite sufficient if
visited often.
Description
of the E-Rate Program
This is the official site for E-Rate funds provided by the FCC. The Universal
Service Fund, also known as E-Rate, has provided billions of dollars in funding
for schools and districts around the country to help implement education technology.
Long-Term Technology
Integration Requires a Rethinking of Budgeting Practices
eSchool News Online offers this article on rethinking the school budget, particularly
in the use of instructional technology. It looks at three key areas: hardware/software
issues, repair/maintenence, and staffing.
Taking
TCO to the Classroom
Taking TCO to the Classroom is a fairly comprehensive article that discusses
the total cost of ownership. It includes a checklist with details of the costs
involved after the initial purchase of equipment.
Technology
Maturity Model
Edmin.com provides a detailed description of the Technology Maturity Model as
a dynamic approach to creating an effective technology plan.
Education Grants
Fundsnet offers this lengthy hotlist of top corporate and private entities offering
grants and funding opportunities to educational initiatives, among other things.
Educational
Grant Programs
Tenet offers this extensive listing of online resources for educators in search
of funds.
Funding for Technology
Study this Funding for Technology resource page from the Mid-continent Regional
Educational Laboratory.
Programs and Priorities:
Interactive Education Initiative
This AOL initiative offers grants of up to $7,500 as seed money to develop and
implement innovative, hands-on projects that improve student performance through
the integration of interactive technology in the learning environment.
Technology Coordinator’s
Page
Use this site from Cherry Hill as an example of online resources brought together
for the technology coordinator's use.
Technology
Maturity Model
Edmin.com provides a detailed description of the Technology Maturity Model as
a dynamic approach to creating an effective technology plan.
Bookmark
Tips
Read these tips for keeping track of bookmarks and using the bookmark file as
a Web page. It includes a nice, illustrated tutorial on how to bookmark sites.
Internet
Explorer Tutorial (Saving Content)
Learn how to save text, graphics, and sound that you find on the Internet. Harvest
Internet resources using Internet Explorer.
Organizing
Your Bookmarks
Learn how to organize your bookmarks in your Netscape browser.
Searching the Internet:
Recommended Sites and Search Techniques
This site explores the unique search capabilities of different search engines
to help you search the Web with more efficiency.